A guide to licensing open content to support researchers interested in improving the supply and accessibility of content that supports evidence-informed policy making and practice in international development.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief general introduction to the Open Licensing of content with a particular focus on the licensing of bibliographic information (metadata) about research publications. The paper highlights the use of the Creative Commons suite of licenses as the most widely used and understood standard for licensing open content.
The Open Access movement seeks to unlock the social value of this knowledge by increasing the ability of third parties to access, share and reuse it effectively. Advocates argue that if we make this possible we ultimately increase the potential for action and impact resulting from that knowledge being shared.
Playforth, R. (2015) Licensing open content. Brighton: IDS